A blog about skepticism, atheism and the freedom of not believing in irrational or magical thoughts.
I am not going to use this blog to attack religions, but instead talk about how throwing off the mental shackles of belief has been a freeing experience.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Christian Privilege

Last night was my birthday so we went out to my favorite sea-food restaurant.

That is not the subject though of my post.

We parked next to a car that had a bunch of bumper stickers on it like "Don't Mess with Texas" and an old George W. Bush sticker. They also had a sticker, a newer one, about "Protecting Religious Freedoms" and it had a bunch of little crosses on it. No Stars of David, no Islamic Crescent Moons, certainly no Pentagrams.
The understood message was "Protect MY Christian Religious Freedoms".

Christians have a warped sense of reality. They are the most numerous religion in the country with members in 100s of millions. Yet they also want to pretend they are an oppressed minority.
It's not that they all woke up and said "hey, I am going act like whiny baby because I am not getting my way anymore." They have lived in a world of Christian Privilege for so long they have no idea what being a repressed minority actually is.

While the sticker made me groan (it is SOOO bad for you that you can drive a nice car and eat at this expensive restaurant) it also made me smile. If they feel they are being attacked then the atheist movement is having some effect. Sure there are other religions also making the poor little Christians feel all scared, but the bottom line is research is showing they are fewer religious type of any stripe and more secularist, atheists and skeptics in this country.

Anyway, I'd try to have a Darwinian argument and point out that even atheists are capable of getting along with others due to a biological drive to form cooperative communities, but mentioning evolution at all is enough to shut off some people's minds.

I just reassure myself that I also know some open-minded Christians who honestly don't think that way. I take no issue with someone having faith. I take issue with people using that faith to cast off others as less worthy of trust or human dignity.